


It's been a long, long time

by anita58straycat



Series: Endgame!Steve - Character regression and missed opportunities [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Analysis, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Character Analysis, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 20:42:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18668002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anita58straycat/pseuds/anita58straycat
Summary: Never thought that you would be/ standing here so close to me/ there's so much I feel that I should say/ but words can wait until some other day...A meta about the song that plays in both CA:TWS and Avengers: Endgame.We heard the song when Steve saw Bucky for the first time in the future. Its reuse in Endgame changes its previous meaning and marks Steve's character regression.MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME





	It's been a long, long time

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on my tumblr: https://koryuoftheriverflow.tumblr.com/post/184430150768

* * *

I talked a lot about the implications of Steve’s return to the past, and its consequences on his (and Peggy’s) character development, obliterated by a two minutes scene.

But I also love Bucky and I’m going to be the bitter Stucky shipper now and say that that song is Bucky’s. 

The only two non-original songs we hear in the soundtrack of cap1 and cap2 are there to tell us something subtextual about Bucky and his relationship with Steve.

In the first movie it played in the tavern (like the title says) where Steve asks Bucky about his future and he tells him he’ll follow him wherever he’ll lead. Then Peggy walks in and the song underscores the moment Bucky understands that Steve is not only his anymore.

This song in particular plays the first time Steve sees the Winter Soldier in cap2, when Bucky shoots Fury. Natasha in a later scene asks Steve about his dating life and he replies that it is difficult to find someone with shared life experiences. Lucky for him then, that a little later on he’s going to find out that the Winter Soldier is in fact his long lost best friend. 

That song marks the moment when Steve, in finding his tether to the past, also finds a way to move forward. He has a mission and he’s not gonna stop until it’s complete.

Now I could argue, and I did for a brief moment, that associating that song to both Bucky and Peggy puts them on the same level, subtextually confirming Steve’s romantic love for both of them.

I would, in any other movie. If that wasn’t the ending we were dealt with. If Steve wasn’t completely turned into something he’s not, because now I can’t trust the writers to know his character and the importance of his relationship with Bucky. 

That song was the beginning of a new journey for Steve: in finding his past, Bucky, he starts to see a future for himself in the present. He isn’t a man out of time anymore: he has purpose, he has people to fight for who love him.

Now, it’s just a song that marks his character regression. 

* * *

 


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